Lebanon: Six Hezbollah, Amal Fighters Killed in Israeli Strikes in the South

28 March 2024, Lebanon, Naqoura: Lebanese women walk past rubble of a café that was hit by an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Naqoura. Photo: STR/dpa
28 March 2024, Lebanon, Naqoura: Lebanese women walk past rubble of a café that was hit by an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Naqoura. Photo: STR/dpa
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Lebanon: Six Hezbollah, Amal Fighters Killed in Israeli Strikes in the South

28 March 2024, Lebanon, Naqoura: Lebanese women walk past rubble of a café that was hit by an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Naqoura. Photo: STR/dpa
28 March 2024, Lebanon, Naqoura: Lebanese women walk past rubble of a café that was hit by an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Naqoura. Photo: STR/dpa

Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Amal parties declared on Saturday that six of their fighters were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah also declared carrying out nine attacks against Israeli army outposts in north Israel.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging cross-border bombardment on a near daily basis. Movements allied with Hezbollah have also declared engagement in military operations against Israel.
On Friday, Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed. Amal movement, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, also said three of its own were killed.
Hezbollah claims to carry out attacks on Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, and that it is targeting Israeli military sites.
Israel says it is responding to the sources of fire from Lebanon, and is targeting military officials in Hezbollah and Hamas, according to Agence France-Presse.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Friday that its warplanes carried out an airstrike on a military facility of Amal in Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon.
The spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, announced on X platform that Israeli warplanes targeted infrastructure of Hezbollah, including a military building, in the area of Ayta al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon.
The Secretary-General of Hezbollah announced in a televised speech Friday that the party had not yet used "neither its main weapons nor its main forces" against Israel. He reiterated that Hezbollah would cease its attacks when the war in Gaza stops.
Since the beginning of cross-border hostilities, at least 356 people were killed in Lebanon, including 235 fighters from Hezbollah, 15 fighters from the Amal Movement, and 68 civilians.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and eight civilians were killed by fire from Lebanon, according to the Israeli army.



Biden Calls for Immediate Gaza Ceasefire in Call with Netanyahu

FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
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Biden Calls for Immediate Gaza Ceasefire in Call with Netanyahu

FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as US officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.
Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Biden "stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal," Reuters quoted it as saying.
Netanyahu updated Biden on progress in the talks and on the mandate he has given his top-level security delegation now in Doha in order to advance a hostage deal, Netanyahu said in a statement.
The two leaders also discussed "the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region," the White House said.
Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN's "State of the Union" program earlier on Sunday that the parties were "very, very close" to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line.
He said Biden was getting daily updates on the talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas.
"We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done," Sullivan said, "and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside."
He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office, but that it was also possible "Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent."
During their call, Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his lifelong support of Israel and "the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense," the White House said.